Fall Photo Dump

Here I am again- 2 months after my last blog post. Fall has been a busy season for us here! I really want to get back into the habit of regular blogging so that I can have more documentation of these moments, besides just pictures. I'm not sure that's going to be happening anytime in the near future- but it's a goal! So fall- October mainly, consisted of vacation, that I posted about last time, Uncle Levi and Aunt Katie's wedding, Ryah turned 3, and had her first Halloween.  So, here is a big group of pictures from all of those events.  We were so happy and thankful to have our precious girl home to celebrate her birthday this year. Last year, we still had no idea when she would come home and we had to celebrate her birthday half a world away. So this year, we made up for it! The holidays have such special meaning this year, to have her finally home. To be with us at Thanksgiving, and now Christmas, just so special to see the answer to so many prayers and such longing last year. Last year's Christmas was pretty awesome- as we left just 2 days later to pick her up- but this year she is HOME! It is so hard to believe we are just 3 weeks away from celebrating 1 year home- what a year it has been! We are so thankful for all God has done in our family this year!

Beach Vacation!!

So apparently I'm only blogging every 2 months or so now. Life with a toddler :)

       We just got back from our long awaited beach vacation!! We saved up all those credit card points we got from our flights to Ethiopia and were able to score a sweet little condo on the beach at the Outer Banks.  The Outer Banks is quickly becoming one of our favorite places to go.  It is so untouched- so much natural beauty and there's hardly any tourist attractions at all- which we love! That might make us a little old- but we love getting away from the crowds, and going to the Outer Banks in October will do just that! We were staying in Hatteras- which is the farthest south before you have to hop a ferry to get to Ocracoke- we could literally see the ferry from our balcony.  We had the beach and the pool to ourselves and it was wonderful!! Ryah LOVED the water.  She wanted to go back and forth from the beach and the pool all week.  She would wake up from a "nap" I say nap very lightly because she did not nap well at all that week, and grab her bathing suit- still wet from the morning out and say "going pool!" It was so much fun to see her be so excited about getting to go to the pool and the beach for a whole week. This was the first time she'd been in a pool! I don't know how we made it all summer without going to the pool.  It was also nice for both of us to have daddy to ourselves for a whole week!! We haven't had that much uninterrupted time together since Ethiopia- and I wouldn't call that a vacation ;) and I doubt Ryah had any idea what was going on. So this was much more enjoyable! We had one chilly day- and we ventured out to the aquarium that day, also a lot of fun.  It was pretty great for Ryah's attention span and she loved watching the fish. She wanted to sit in front of each tank and watch them looking for Nemo :)  We had a great week enjoying the beautiful scenery and weather together as a family and I would say our first family vacation was a great success! We can't wait to go back next year!! Here are some of my favorite pictures from the week!

First Day at the pool!

The view from our balcony- I wanted to sit there all day!

Riding the waves!

7 months home!

Here I am again- way behind on updating the blog.  I missed our big 6 month home milestone, so I'm checking in at #7 now! Life is busy with a very active toddler- she is keeping me on my toes daily!  How has it been 7 months already? We are over half way to the year mark.  July 31 we celebrated 1 year since the day Ryah was forever declared a part of our family.  So many fond memories of our time in Ethiopia a year ago.  Just so you can see the difference a year makes, the first picture was July of last year, and the second was taken a few days ago. This little girl has grown by leaps and bounds! And can we talk about how much just her hair has grown??! Girl has got some beautiful curls!

July 2013

July 2014

We have seen so much growth over the last two months 

especially, after our decision to go back into the cocoon for a 

season.  Hubs and I both feel like we've made some great 

strides with bonding, both individually and as a family unit. 

We will start venturing back out to events soon and see how 

she responds,but I feel like this time around will be different. 

This will always be something we work on as we reassure 

Ryah that we are forever and aren't going anywhere.  Her 

newest phrase is "right back" and it is adorable watching her 

hold her little finger up and either make sure we are coming 

right back or her telling us that she will be right back.  

Highlights from the last few months are building her 

vocabulary, her first trip to the zoo, potty training,

strawberry picking for the first time,

our first family pictures,(find a sneak peak on FB) and we 

also recently had her evaluated for speech therapy and it 

looks like we will be starting with that soon. So even though 

I haven't found the time to blog regularly, life is still going on

over here! I hope that now that we are getting into a groove I 

can make this more of a habit so we will have it to look back 

on as she grows.  Thanks for keeping up with us if you still 

check this little blog! Find me on Instagram and Facebook to 

get more regular updates. I'll leave you with a few recent

pictures! 

Tucker bonding

Loving the strawberries

Summer fun!

Meeting new baby cousin, Wavorly!

Happy 4th of July!

First taste of watermelon!

Chillin' at the zoo